Carbon black surface chemical modification by atmospheric plasma

In this work an atmospheric plasma reactor has been adapted to treat Carbon Black (CB). Afterwards, CB was treated with air plasma and nitrogen plasma at different conditions (distance to the plasma flame and time). The presence of stable reactive gases after the plasma torch was studied. Concerning CB, the effect of the plasma treatment on the filler particles was determined by measuring the pH and the acidic value for different bases (NaOH, Ba(OH) ₂, NaHCO ₃) the chemical changes were studied using X-Ray Pothoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). To determine the modification in the filler-polymer interaction bound rubber was determined in CB filled polybutadiene mixtures as well as adsorption isotherms from polymer solution. The vulcanization parameters (t ₁, t ₉₀, MH-ML) and the dynamic mechanical properties of different mixtures were also studied. The results obtained show that this technique is a very effective method in the CB chemical surface modification especially for its oxidation process which gives to this material very interesting properties. Further development would lead to achieve fillers with tailored chemical surface composition.